Description: Between 1990 and 2005, two-thirds of Iowa's population growth was due to immigration. These immigrants have come primarily from Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe. Iowa's Latino population, for example, grew by 234% between the years 1990 and 2005. Immigrant newcomers create a dynamic social and economic context within which the university and its faculty can conduct research, provide community service and educate graduate students for the diverse world in which they will undoubtedly live and work. Additionally, considering that many of iowa's newcomer students are just starting to graduate from high school, UNI's immediate future needs to include the successful recruitment and retention of a critical block of new Iowans, who will both enrich and be enriched by a higher education experience.

The purpose of this institute is to provide opportunities for graduate faculty from a wide variety of disciplines across Colleges-from Marketing to Music, Communications to Curriculum & Instruction, Physics to Philosophy, History to heath, and more-to learn first-hand about the New Iowans. Immigrant integration of innovative and cross-disciplinary learning strategies and educational technology tools in both graduate coursework and in graduate projects beyond the classroom.

Carver Graduate Fellows selected for the project will join a faculty learning community beginning with a Summer Institute that will include lectures on the new Iowans; guest presentations by professionals working with these populations; multiple field trips throughout Eastern Iowa to visit these minority communities; and ample discussion time and small-group sessions to develop unique faculty/graduate student projects regarding newcomer groups. Furthermore, the faculty learning community established during this summer institute will be continued through regular meetings and follow-up sessions during the academic year.

Sponsored by the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust
and the
University of Northern Iowa